This took a lot of planning and research. I've never backpacked before so I had to rely on online advice on what to bring. I knew that once I was in shape, I liked to be fed every 3+hrs, so the ultra-lightweight hikers diet of mashed potatoes and oatmeal wasn't going to work for me. Nor was the pre-packaged stuff where you couldn't even recognize the ingredients. Additionally, everything for 3-6 days had to squeeze into a bear-proof canister.
Months ago I bought a dehydrator and spent much of the winter prepping food: ground beef, spinach, peas, corn, pasta, quinoa, chili, etc. From these I made all kinds of meals: Tex-Mex, Chix Pesto Tortellini, Shepherd's Pie, Turkey Mushroom Pasta, meat/pot/veg, and so on. These I portioned out into freezer ziploc bags, which are heatproof, and those were my dinners. Add boiling water to cover, voila! Meal-in-a-bag. All have been good, some absolutely delicious. Move over Lean Cuisine, I maybe having dehydrated lunches from now on!
Lunches are peanut butter/jelly in tortillas, rehydrated tabbouleh w/ chicken, rehydrated dried hummus or dried refried black beans in tortillas. Simple, fast, easy to digest.
Snacks. Lots of snacks for munching on the go. It's hard to hike after a big meal so lunches are small and supplemented with snacks, ie. Clif bars, granola bars, peanut butter stuffed pretzels, Snickers, peanut M&M's, cookies, etc. Anything with high carbs and high fat is good when you burn so many calories a day.
Then there's breakfast. Boring. Well, to me at least. As long as I can have my coffee, I'm good. Occasionally I'll add a bar or a rehydrate a little bag of ground beef/mashed potatoes that I made, but that's all.
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